Beaumont obstructing the field appeal evokes memories of Dean run-out

Smriti Mandhana's knowing smile said it before her words did. India's return to Lord's for the first time since Deepti Sharma ran out Charlie Dean backing up to sweep their ODI series here nearly three years ago would always pose the question and Mandhana knew it was coming.

"Doesn't happen, right? You come to Lord's and that question is not asked?" Mandhana said. "We didn't really think anything about all of that incident. Only today, there was one random appeal for Tammy Beaumont, when that happened. And again, Deepti was bowling.

"That's when we cracked a joke that Lord's and Deepti has an, I don't know how I term it in words, but we had a small joke around it.

"The whole match last time, of course it was overshadowed quite a lot because of that one incident. But I would say the way we all actually played cricket in terms of that whole series, I mean, one incident cannot overshadow it, and the chat was only about how good we played and we have to just keep continuing that."

But if the venue, teams and individuals reconvening for the second of three ODIs in this series - which England won this time against the backdrop of two significant rain interruptions to draw level 1-1 - didn't already promise some drama, a number of on-field incidents delivered.

The first, which Mandhana referenced, came when India appealed for Beaumont to be dismissed obstructing the field.

Beaumont had set England's initial pursuit of 144 in 29 overs off to a flyer on 25 off 17 balls with England 36 without loss in the fifth over. She clipped a Deepti delivery towards midwicket and set off for a run but turned back as Jemimah Rodrigues pounced and fired the ball back to the striker's end.

Beaumont's left foot was grounded inside her crease as she brought her right leg forward and the ball ricocheted off her pad as wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh threw her arms up in appeal. After an umpire review, Beaumont was adjudged not out.

"I was not in a really good angle, to be fair, probably it was not visible at all," Mandhana said. "Jemmi definitely felt that maybe she kicked it or something. They referred it and it was not out, so I'm sure that they should have seen all the angles. That's the only view I have on it.

"But I was in no angle, to be fair, to see what happened. At mid-on you don't see what exactly happened from that way. So not being diplomatic, but genuinely I did not see it."

Amy Jones, who top-scored for England with an unbeaten 46, was at the other end when it happened and spent a nervous few moments "talking it through" with Beaumont as they awaited the result of the review.

"It was weird," Jones said. "I've never been out there for one of those before, I don't think. The umpires were happy that Tammy was in her crease, so she wasn't trying to not get run out, but obviously they appealed for obstructing the field.

"I learned that even if you're in, you can still be out, but obviously Tammy had no intent of actually obstructing them. I think she was just trying to get back into her crease, so all okay in the end. She didn't know if it could result in a wicket or not."

In Deepti's next over, she pulled out of her delivery stride and Beaumont, who wasn't backing up excessively, made it back into her crease safely at the non-striker's end. Mandhana shrugged that off after the match, saying Deepti "actually pulls out quite a lot".

"I would say that every match she would've played maybe once or twice she has the habit," Mandhana added. "Maybe she wants to watch the batter or she has her own strategy. But it was not discussed at all.

"Why would we discuss all of those things? We came here to play good cricket and that was the only discussion which we had. She does that quite a lot. I think it's more to do with seeing what the batter is doing."

Beaumont ultimately fell lbw to Sneh Rana for 34 off 35 balls after staging a 54-run opening stand with Jones.

The match was reduced further by a heavy evening downpour with England 102 for 1 from 18.4 overs, eight balls shy of the 20 overs needed to constitute a match.

Nat Sciver-Brunt, who had put on 48 runs with Jones, was bowled by Kranti Goud on the second ball after the resumption with a revised target of 115 off 24 overs.

With England needing 13 more runs off the last five overs, India reviewed for caught behind off new batter Sophia Dunkley, despite the stump mic picking up Ghosh saying there was no bat involved, which was proved on the replays.

Again, Jones found herself in conversation with her batting partner about keeping calm in the moment.

"I thought they played that very well," she said. "We tried not to get drawn into it. It was always going to happen. It's part of the game. So we did acknowledge it when Dunks came out. I was like, 'it's a bit annoying out here'.

"It's what most teams would do. So I tried to leave that to the umpires. It is a part of the game."

With the series level, the final ODI in Durham on Tuesday has plenty at stake, lots of recent history behind it and promises to be entertaining.